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VFK Declaration of Independence Quest
Description On June 11th, 1776, a committee was appointed by the Continental Congress to draft a declaration of independence. The committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. The committee asked Jefferson to write the document and he set to work. Over the next two weeks, Jefferson wrote the document and presented it to the committee on June 27. The next day, it was read in Congress. The document describes why the colonies wanted to become independent from Great Britain. On today's quest, we will look at the historical events behind the Declaration of Independence! Your reward for completing this quest will be 1,000 credits, and a Fourth of July Independence Day Hat! Prizes Questions 1.The very top of the Declaration of Independence reads "In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America." According to Jefferson, on Monday, the first of July, the Congress debated then voted on accepting the resolution. Most of the thirteen states voted "yes". However, South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against it. Delaware, only having two members present at the Congress was divided, and another state did not vote. The delegates of the abstaining state declared that they and their people were for approving the resolution, however, their instructions, which were a year old, told them not to do anything that would impede reconciliation with Great Britain. Which state was this that did not vote? * Virginia * New Hampshire * Maryland * New York 2.Mr. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina asked that they postpone their ultimate decision to the next day, as he believed that his fellow delegates would reconsider their vote for the sake of unanimity. The next day the Congress voted again. This time, South Carolina voted "yes." Also, because another of Delaware's delegates had arrived in the meantime, Delaware voted for it as well. In addition, Pennsylvania changed their vote to be "yes". This made 12 colonies total that voted "yes". Also within just a few days, New York authorized approval for the resolution. Go to outside the Marshall's Office in Western Age and say "I vote yes!" 3.The Congress spent the rest of the 2nd, the 3rd and the 4th of July, 1776 debating the various elements of the document and on the last evening, "the declaration was reported by the committee, agreed to by the house and signed by every member present except Mr. Dickinson." What they agreed to is our current Declaration of Independence. The first line of the document is well known, "When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands...". Another very famous line is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." What comprises the majority of the Declaration of Independence? * The rights of mankind * The reasons why the US separated from Great Britain * The laws that the US wants to govern them * Declaration of war against Great Britain 4.The last sentence of the first paragraph outlines the reason for the Declaration of Independence, "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." After stating that the government should serve the people and if it fails to do so the people should change it, it goes on to tell exactly why the colonies were separating from Great Britain. Go to the front of the hotel in Western Age and say, "It is the Right of the People!" 5.The Declaration states that "the history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States." The Declaration also states that a people will accept an evil government for a long time because they become used to it, and that it is far easier to suffer the evils than to fix what is wrong. It also says that the present government had pushed them too far and the evil had grown so great that they were being forced to change their government. Who was the King of Great Britain at that time? * King George I * King George II * King George III * King George IV 6.The actions taken by King George III to cause the colonies to rise up against him were many. The general rallying cry for the revolution was "no taxation without representation," however, that was only one of the reasons for the revolution. The Declaration of Independence outlines all the major reasons why the colonies wanted to separate from the King. Go to the Audubon waterfall and say, "No taxation without representation!" 7.The underlying reason behind the tyranny of King George and Great Britain stemmed from motivations that we understand very well even today. England was deeply in debt! They fought the Seven Years War which lasted from 1754-1763. Great Britain achieved their objective of colonial domination in North America, India and the Caribbean, however, they ran up a staggering debt accomplishing it. They needed money to pay their debt, and they looked to the American colonies to get it. This resulted in a series of taxes and restrictions designed to extract money and raw materials from the colonies. At the same time the British government clamped down on the colonies being able to govern themselves, and denied them representation. What did we call this war in the US? * The Prussian Conflict * The French & Indian War * The Colonial War * The Sugar Standoff 8. The hostilities between Great Britain and the colonies, mostly began at the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. The victory caused great celebration in the colonies. When the French ceded the disputed territory to Britain, the colonists thought it would open the western frontier to westward expansion. The Proclamation of 1763 from the King, however, essentially closed the frontier to the colonists and specified that any colonists on Indian land must abandon it. The Proclamation set a western boundary and established posts along the boundary at great expense which was charged to the colonists through taxes. Not only were they being regulated in a way contrary to the interest of the colonies, but they had to pay for it. Go to the Victorian Main Street in Victorian Age and say, "We are drawing a line in the sand!" 9. After the Royal Proclamation of 1763, things began to get worse. Patrick Henry in May of 1765, introduced five resolutions to the House of Burgesses which was a significant move against the authority of Parliament. The resolutions were shocking at the time. All five resolutions were adopted, however the fifth resolution was later retracted. The resolutions stated that the colonies were essentially British citizens and were entitled to all the same "liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great Britain." They also said that only the colonists knew what taxes the colonies could bear and the best way of raising them. What were these resolutions called? * House of Burgesses Resolutions * The Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions * Congressional Decree of 1765 * Resolutions of American Freedom 10. After these resolutions, over the next few years, came a series of taxation acts from England. The efforts to extract money from the colonies was answered in self defense with Non-importation Agreements and such documents as the Association in 1774. The more that England tried to gain tyrannical control over the colonies, the more resistance they met. When the King began sending troops to enforce his tyranny, and began killing Americans, the colonists had had enough. They had been pushed as far as possible and they refused to be pushed further. The Declaration of Independence simply explained all of the background behind their decision and showed a unanimous front to the British government that they weren't going to take it any more. Go to the Space Shop and say, "We aren't going to take it any more!" Answers 1. New York 2. Go to outside the U.S. Marshalls in Western Age and say "I vote yes!" 3. The reasons why the US separated from Great Britain 4. Go to the Grand Hotel in Western Age and say, "It is the Right of the People!" 5. King George III 6. Go to the Tranquil Waterfall and say, "No taxation without representation!" 7. The French & Indian War 8. Go to the Main Street in Victorian Age and say, "We are drawing a line in the sand!" 9. The Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions 10. Go to Galactic Trading Post and say, "We aren't going to take it any more!" Category:Quests